tu ' The Birds of India.' 245 



ledge been noticed of A. ncevia by any observer in India, where 

 its chief food has been 'found to be frogs. 



29. Aquila fulvescens. 



The distinctness of the Indian tawny Eagle from the African 

 A. navioides has for some time been recognized by the best ob- 

 servers. Among other late authorities^ Mr. W. Blanford, when 

 in Abyssinia, obtained true A. navioides; and he insists on this 

 being perfectly distinct from the Indian bird, the bill and legs 

 being constantly larger. But quite recently Messrs. Brooks 

 and Hume have procured specimens in fulvous plumage of a 

 large Eagle quite distinct from the ordinary Indian one, which 

 has been confidently pronounced to be true A. navioides, and 

 which must therefore be added to our fauna. 



29 bis. Aquila NjEVIoides, Cuvier. 



Several specimens have now been obtained in the North-west 

 Provinces of India, near Etawa and elsewhere ; and it will doubt- 

 less be found hereafter to have a more general distribution, 

 throughout Western India at all events. It appears not im- 

 probable that the figure of Aquila fulvescens in Hardwicke^s 

 ' Illustrations ' is taken from this species, and not from the 

 common Tawny Eagle, which must therefore be named either 

 fusca, punctata, ovvindhiana. If Gray's names have the priority 

 over that of Franklin, I should suggest the adoption of punctata 

 as being in a state of plumage much more resembling that 

 most commonly met with than fusca. 



30. Aquila hastata. 



No specimens of this Eagle have been obtained lately; and 

 Mr. Hume is inclined to doubt its distinctness from A. ncevia. 

 It is certainly somewhat remarkable that so many practical 

 naturalists should have considered this Eagle a distinct species, 

 all of whom were more or less well acquainted with A. naevia. : — 

 first Lesson, the namer of the species; then myself, when I de- 

 scribed it as Spizaetus punctatus; then Mr. Blyth and Mr. Frith, 

 in Bengal, and Mr. Hodgson, in Nepaul, who figures it under 

 the name of Aquila tarsata, from one of its characteristic points, 

 the lengthened slender tarsus. Quite recently ]M;ijor Godwin- 



